


that is one ANGRY-looking bee

by whatsanaccounttoagod



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bees, F/M, Fluff, Hallucinations, Hornets, M/M, Panic Attacks, Tony Stark Cuddles, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-07-23 06:22:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16153400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatsanaccounttoagod/pseuds/whatsanaccounttoagod
Summary: Tony has his first encounter with a hornet.It doesn't go well.





	that is one ANGRY-looking bee

**Author's Note:**

> im so sorry to anyone whos ever been terrified of a hornet in their life this is absolutely based off an outsider's view of your suffering
> 
> if you wanted something longer im sorry this is so short i have too many ideas and not enough words to write these ideas

Tony's not afraid of bees. They're friendly little fuzzballs who just want to go about their day that Peter occasionally eats to be an annoying little shit.

When he glanced down at the buzzing yellow insect, he realized very quickly it wasn't a bee. It took no more than five seconds for the Mark L to fully form around him and give him a repulsor to point at the angry twink bee.

"Call Pepper down," he whispered to FRIDAY, not daring to move.

It flew around for a moment before settling on his arm.

"Tony? What's going on?" Pepper asked as she entered, freezing at the sight of a stock-still Iron Man suit. Did someone paralyze him again? Did Obadiah's… paralytic thing make a comeback?

"Pepper, honey," the billionaire whispered.

"Yes, Tony?"

"Pepper," he repeated, twitching his head forward.

"What's wrong?"

" _ Pepper. _ "

"I already asked what's wrong."

"There's something on my suit." He twitched his head again, directing her gaze to a tiny yellow spot on his suit.

"It's just a bee," she said, laughing.

"That abomination is unlike any bee I have ever seen," he insisted.

"Bees, hornets… Same thing."

" _ Kill it! _ " he hissed when it crawled closer to his elbow.

Pepper laughed harder.

"It's almost found a way in! It's found a chink in my armor! It's going to kill me!" he screamed, clearly half in tears under the suit.

Through her laughter, she managed to find a flyswatter and killed the offending insect. When she showed him its corpse, he finally retracted the suit and collapsed, left arm shaking now that it wasn't forcibly stabilized by nanotechnology. A pang of guilt stabbed through her as she immediately moved to comfort him.

He laid awake that night despite Pepper and Rhodey's comforting cuddles. All Tony could think about was how stupid his fear of the damn hornet was. He could've just grabbed the flyswatter and killed it himself. If he insisted on being extra, he could've blasted the damn thing. His repulsor was  _ right there _ . It shouldn't have scared him, but… it did. He wasn't even afraid of space, and over the past ten years, he'd certainly gotten his fair share of space-related trauma. How could something smaller than his thumb terrify him so much? Actually, fuck fear. Fuck panic attacks. He'd get over it.

The night after, he didn't bother trying to sleep. Maybe if he threw himself into work, he'd be distracted enough not to think about angry twink bees. Or angry twinks in general. (He'd seen the photos. Steve was absolutely an angry twink before the super soldier serum.)

By the third night, he could hear it buzzing again. As Tony forced himself to stay upright, Rhodey entered, concern written over his features. "Tones?"

"I can hear it buzzing, Rhodey." The mechanic forced himself to breathe evenly.  _ Five in, three hold, eight out. _ "I can feel it crawling."

The colonel made his way over and rested a comforting hand on his partner's shoulder. "You're hallucinating, Tony. Let's go to bed, okay?"

"Kill it," he choked out. "Please."

Well, if this was all he needed to calm down, Rhodey could play along. It was easier to kill the damn bug Tony's head made up from sleep deprivation and panic. "Okay, where is it?"

"On me."

"Where on you?"

"Arm." Tony nodded to his trembling left arm, partially enclosed in a gauntlet. The remains of the bug Pepper'd killed the other day stuck to it.

"It's already squished, Tones. Pepper killed it. I'll clean it off." Rhodey turned to get some paper towels and bleach before Tony interrupted.

"Don't leave me with it," he begged.

Who could resist those puppy eyes? Rhodey briefly questioned whether Tony learned from Peter or if the terrified labrador in front of him taught the little beagle. "I'm right here, Tones. Do you want me to get Pepper?"

The aforementioned terrified labrador nodded.

"FRIDAY, can you ask Pepper to come down here with some bleach and a paper towel?"

"She's on her way," FRIDAY responded.

"Thanks, FRI." Rhodey snuggled closer to the man on the floor next to him. Out of all the traumatic experiences he could've hallucinated about, at least this one was something they could help with.

Pepper came down a few minutes later with the requested cleaning supplies. Tony was still too terrified to sleep, but hopefully, this would help.

Rhodey whispered to Tony, "I'm going to clean it off your gauntlet, okay?"

He nodded, offering the arm. The entire process only took a few seconds, but he visibly relaxed once it was gone. "Thanks." He retracted the gauntlet and snuggled into Rhodey. Pepper sat down and snuggled into their mutual partner.

"Anything for you, Tones," Rhodey murmured as the pair finally soothed the exhausted billionaire to sleep. Once the colonel got Tony upstairs and into bed, they'd quickly followed suit.

When Pepper woke, Tony'd already gotten out of bed and a quick doodle of pancakes sat on the bedside table. She grinned and shook Rhodey awake. "Tony made us pancakes."

He pushed himself up and squinted at the doodle. "So he has."

Tony slept that night.

**Author's Note:**

> part of this is based off my experience with dumb fears and the other is based off of how bee fears look to me
> 
> this is REALLY short but i dont know where else to take this?? im just a sleepy boi who laughs at your suffering and has too many ideas that will never become anything else
> 
> if you want updates, you can [follow me on tumblr](whatsanaccounttoagod.tumblr.com) or [subscribe to my ao3](archiveofourown.org/users/whatsanaccounttoagod).


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